


hidden treasures

by artemis_west



Category: Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune
Genre: Beaches, Fluff, Happy, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 08:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14891391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemis_west/pseuds/artemis_west
Summary: The Bennett pack have a scavenger hunt on the beach, courtesy of Ox. Set post-canon, so don't read if you haven't read Wolfsong! Or do, but beware of spoilers ahead.(For the Wolfsong Discord Summer Exchange, for PJ, who wanted Jox and a beach day scavenger hunt).





	hidden treasures

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aminiyard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aminiyard/gifts).



> so this is......not in the vein of what i normally write and therefore i'm disappointed by it and i feel like it's not written as well according to my standards i set for myself but i really hope i did you justice PJ and i hope you like it!

Green Creek summers usually went like this:

Birds calling through the trees. Quiet nights and soft breezes. Nights at the movie theater, mornings and afternoons at the diner. Road trips to unexplored places. Laughter and love, rolling around in the grass during the cooler days, splashing in the lake on the hotter ones. Hikes through the trails in the woods, camping in the mountains. Backyard barbecues and fires at night, the smell of woodsmoke and charred burgers drifting through the air. Fireworks when the sun went down on the 4th of July, sparklers trailing comet tails. County fairs and carnivals. Looking for stars and naming constellations. Dinah Shore on the record player. Howling at the moon. 

For the Bennett pack, this summer was no different. 

It had been three summers since Richard. Three summers since Ox died and came back as a wolf. 

Things were good. Things were happy. Things were easy. Ox had Joe and Joe had Ox, and they had their pack, always strong and true. They had business every now and then, things to discuss with Michelle Hughes, curious intruders to defend against, but the Bennett pack could handle anything. They growled and snarled and fought the people who thought they could come into their territory, the people who would think to harm them. They welcomed and invited the people who were just there to investigate, the people who had heard about the pack with two Alphas and humans and wanted to see it with their own eyes. 

In between all that, the days were warm and soft. The nights were glittering and bright. The wolves and the humans loved and lived, despite all they had lost, and their bonds strengthened more than ever. 

This summer was no different, but it was special. Ox had decided to make it special. 

He planned it all himself, and it was an ordeal trying to hide it from his pack. They were suspicious, of course. The Bennett pack didn’t keep secrets from each other, not anymore. They didn’t lie. They didn’t hide things. But this was meant to be a surprise, and if Ox ruined it after all his careful planning, he would hate himself. 

Gordo found out, of course. 

At the shop one afternoon, he said, “What are you planning, Ox?” and Ox sighed. 

So Ox told him, and then he enlisted Gordo’s help. 

It was easier to keep the pack subdued during the summer months. Everything was easier during the summer. The pack was happy, too mired in it to be worried about anything. There was something about summer in Green Creek that had a certain kind of magic different than what Gordo could do. It had an effect on all of them. Their suspicions towards Ox melted away like ice cream in the sun, and they smiled and laughed with each other, Sunday night dinners still bringing them all together. 

“This is ridiculous, what you’re doing,” Gordo said on the last day before Ox was ready. “You know you could just - ”

“I know,” Ox said. “But I want this to be special. For him.” 

He was doing it for the whole pack, but really for Joe. For his mate. Always his mate. 

Gordo shook his head and mumbled something about sentimental bullshit, and Ox smiled. 

In the morning, Ox woke up beside Joe, the summer sunlight shining through the window, casting Joe in gold. He was so beautiful. He slept peacefully, his head on Ox’s shoulder, his arm thrown around Ox’s waist, legs tangled together under the thin sheet. His body was covered in Ox’s marks, and he had Ox’s scent all over him, and Ox buried his nose in Joe’s hair and breathed him in, his hand trailing along the back of his neck, down his spine.

Ox was the same - covered in Joe’s marks, drenched in his scent. It was always like this, and they would never change a thing about it. 

Joe woke slowly as Ox traced patterns on his back, fingers connecting freckles. He stretched and pulled himself closer to Ox, burying his nose in his neck. Joe kissed his shoulder, soft and gentle and sleepy, and Ox held onto him tighter. 

“Morning,” Joe mumbled, humming happily. His chest vibrated with pleasure, and Ox picked it up immediately.  _ AlphaAlphaAlpha  _ and  _ matematemate  _ and  _ lovelovelove  _ sang through their veins.  _ Mine _ , they both silently said as they held each other.  _ Mine, forever.  _

Today was going to be a good day. Ox could feel it. 

“Morning,” Ox said, pulling Joe’s face up to kiss him. It wasn’t long before he had Joe underneath him, and they took a while getting out of bed. But that was all right. The old house, the house where Ox used to live with his mother, had become his and Joe’s. They lived there together, and they had made it their own, with Joe and Ox’s decorations and little things they’d carried over from the main house. A few of Elizabeth’s paintings hung on the walls, and framed photos of the pack. It was nice to have their own space, but it didn’t mean they didn’t spend just as much time with the rest of the pack in the Bennett house. 

Ox didn’t ask Joe what he wanted for breakfast. He simply made Joe’s favorite. Lots and lots of bacon, a big bowl of scrambled eggs, and warm toast with butter. It was what Elizabeth always made him as a child. Ox found that out a few months after he and Joe became mates, and he’d committed it to memory instantly. It was worth it for the bright, beautiful smile Joe gave him every time Ox cooked it. 

“I was thinking we could go somewhere today,” Ox said as Joe came up behind him at the stove and put his arms around his waist.

“Yeah?” Joe asked, nuzzling the back of his neck. “Where?”

“The beach,” Ox said. “There’s a small one nearby. Kinda private.”

“I think I know it,” Joe said. “My mom and dad took us there when we were kids.” He sounded nostalgic now. “I haven’t been there in years.”

Ox smiled. He hadn’t known that, but it made his plans even more perfect. 

“The rest of the pack can come,” Ox said. “Yeah?” If Joe wanted it to be just the two of them, he’d be okay with that, too. 

“Sure,” Joe said, pressing himself against Ox’s back. “A beach day would be nice. My mom might like to go back there.”

“We’ll tell them after breakfast,” Ox said, turning off the stove. He fixed Joe’s plate and turned around to kiss him. Joe smiled against his lips and took the plate from him. 

“Let’s eat, then,” Joe said. They sat down and ate quickly while Joe pressed his feet against Ox’s under the table. He smiled playfully when Ox gave him a look. 

The rest of the pack was excited for their beach day when they heard the news. Elizabeth smiled softly when Ox told her about the beach, and Carter and Kelly regaled Ox with stories of when Elizabeth and Thomas used to take the boys there on warmer days. They would splash in the water and try to dunk each other. They’d bury Carter in sand and give him a mermaid tail, and they’d build sandcastles four feet high. Kelly used to like to hunt for shells. Joe, who was a toddler then, used to try to climb up on the rocks, and Thomas would have to rescue him. Thomas would carry Joe on his shoulders and stand on the rocks, and Joe would laugh with glee, so high up. Mark used to swim as far out into the water as he could, until the boys were afraid he’d be swallowed up by the waves.

The shop boys and Jessie were enthusiastic about taking a day off from work to relax. Gordo grumbled unhappily and rolled his eyes, but he offered to drive. Jessie wanted to bring her girlfriend, and everyone knew better than to protest. Mark’s eyes were nostalgic as he smiled at Ox, that secret smile Ox was so used to by now. Ox knew Gordo wouldn’t have told anyone about his plans - Gordo wouldn’t do that to him - but it was always possible that Mark had figured out something was going on. Ox wouldn’t be surprised. 

After a brief scramble as everyone gathered their things and grabbed their swimsuits and sunblock, they were on the way. Their caravan of cars drove through Green Creek, with Ox and Joe leading the pack. A few years ago, Ox had bought Joe and himself their own car. Or rather, Gordo had given it to them as an anniversary present. They didn’t particularly need one, but it was nice to have, and Ox loved how domestic it made him feel. They had their own house and their own car - things like that meant family and stability, and it gave him a warm feeling. It made him think of the future, and what would come next. 

The drive to the beach wasn’t long, and on the way there, Joe held Ox’s hand and shared some of his earliest memories from the little vacation spot. Sometimes, he said, Thomas would take him there on his own, without the rest of the pack, and they would walk along the sand and talk for hours. Sometimes Elizabeth would bring her painting supplies and paint the horizon and the waves and the rocks. Sometimes Mark would go there alone and only come back when the sun went down. 

Ox let Joe talk, content to listen to his voice as he was lost in memories. He wanted today to be perfect. He hoped Joe would never forget it. 

When they arrived at the beach, the Bennett pack spilled out of cars and tumbled over each other as they raced to the water, stripping clothes as they went. Jessie and her girlfriend, Ella, spread out a big beach blanket on a sunny spot on the sand. Carter and Kelly wrestled each other into the water while Robbie stood on the shore, unsure of taking his shirt off to join them. He watched Kelly with big eyes. 

Elizabeth and Mark had brought a picnic basket, and they spread out towels and blankets on the sand for everyone to sit. The shop boys joined Carter and Kelly in the water, splashing each other and challenging the wolves to a game of chicken. Gordo sat apart from everyone, sitting on a rock facing the ocean. After a minute, Mark went over to him. When Gordo joined the others, Elizabeth smiled. 

Joe stood at the edge of the lot where they’d parked the cars, his face turned towards the sun. He was wearing swim trunks and one of Ox’s t-shirts, flip-flops on his feet, and he looked so at peace. His skin glowed golden in the sun, his hair illuminated by it. For a moment, Ox just looked at him, struck by how beautiful he was. His heart stuttered, still, even after the years that had passed together. Ox figured it always would. 

“I have something for you,” he said, blurting it out before he was ready. He’d planned to wait, until after the picnic Mark and Elizabeth had prepared. But staring at Joe, watching him smile, made the words bubble up and out of Ox’s mouth. He wanted to keep that smile on Joe’s face. 

“Yeah?” Joe asked, grinning. He pulled Ox close, kissing him as a beach breeze whispered over them. The air smelled like salt and sand. “What is it?” Joe nuzzled Ox’s neck, his nose brushing along the skin. Ox’s hands fit against his waist. 

“A surprise,” Ox said, nervous now. 

Joe hummed against his neck. “A good surprise?”

“I think so,” Ox said, distracted by the way Joe was peppering his throat with soft kisses. He got his wits back and put some distance between them, keeping a tight hold on Joe’s hand. Joe grinned, eyes sparkling in the sunlight. 

“We should come here alone one day,” Joe said, his voice pitched low for only Ox. He leaned forward again and whispered things in Ox’s ear, and Ox’s toes curled, his heart speeding up, hands curling possessively against Joe’s back. He growled softly, and Joe growled back, pressing himself closer to Ox. 

A flip-flop hit Joe’s head. 

“Hey, come on,” Carter said as Joe and Ox looked towards the beach. Kelly was laughing at the look on Joe’s face, and Robbie was trying to stifle his amusement. Jessie smirked as Joe bent down to retrieve the flip-flop Carter had thrown. 

“Did you just throw your shoe at me?” Joe asked. He didn’t sound like an Alpha just then; more like a brother, amused and annoyed by his older brother’s antics. 

“It was Kelly,” Carter lied, and Kelly balked, shaking his head. 

“It was not, you asshole.”

Joe threw the shoe back, and before Carter could turn, it hit his chest with perfect precision. Carter howled with laughter and ran back towards the ocean. Joe followed him, stripping off his shirt and leaving Ox behind, diving into the waves after his brothers. Ox smiled. He could wait to give Joe his surprise.

He sat with Elizabeth and Mark and Gordo on the picnic blanket, and Elizabeth leaned her head on his shoulder. 

“It was nice of you to suggest this, Ox,” she said warmly. “I’ve always loved this spot.”

“It’s pretty,” Ox said. “My mom would’ve liked it.”

“She would have,” Elizabeth agreed. 

They sat for a while, watching Joe and his brothers wrestle. Eventually, Robbie joined them, overcoming his shyness, and Ox watched Kelly smile. Jessie and Ella joined them too, swimming together and laughing. They were good together. All of them made a happy picture, and Ox’s warmth, his tender feelings of  _ lovelovelove  _ and  _ packpackpack  _ echoed through the rest of them. 

Once they wore themselves out in the ocean, the pack gathered on the picnic blanket to enjoy the food Elizabeth and Mark had made. Joe pressed himself into Ox’s side, and as their pack was laughing and talking around them, Ox shared a look with Gordo. Gordo just rolled his eyes, and Ox grinned. 

“So,” he said. “I planned something.” 

The pack quieted as they all stared at him, eyebrows raised in curious faces. Joe looked puzzled, but his eyes were bright. 

“It’s why I wanted to come here,” Ox explained. “There’s a scavenger hunt. I hid some stuff around the beach. I thought it would be fun.”

“Does the first one to find everything win a prize?” Carter asked, excited at the possibility of a competition. 

“Uh, no,” Ox said, and Kelly laughed at the disappointed look on Carter’s face. “It’s just supposed to be for fun. But there’s a surprise at the end.” 

Gordo sighed and reached into his pocket for the slips of paper he’d been carrying with him. He handed them out to everyone in the pack, grumbling, “Follow the riddles. And don’t fucking say a word about it.”

“Did you write these?” Rico asked, smothering a laugh as he read off the first rhyme. “Damn, Gordo, I didn’t know you were a poet.”

“Fuck off,” Gordo growled, flipping Rico the bird. Tanner and Chris joined in on the jibes, mockingly reading the riddles in a faux-Shakespearean voice. Jessie and Ella laughed, and Kelly leaned over to whisper something about searching strategies to Robbie. Ox watched Robbie blush at the closeness, but they bent their heads together, trying to figure out the first riddle. 

“I asked Gordo to help,” Ox said. “And I wrote all the riddles, not him.” 

Gordo gave Ox a look - Gordo had totally written the riddles - and Ox just smiled. 

“This seems like fun, Ox,” Elizabeth said, her eyes sparkling. “What made you come up with this?”

Ox shrugged. “I think I saw it somewhere before. I just thought it would be cool to do.”

“I like it,” Joe said, smiling in encouragement as he took Ox’s hand. Ox grinned. Joe had no idea what was waiting for him at the end of the scavenger hunt. Ox was proud of himself for managing to keep it a secret for so long. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Joe’s face. 

When the last bite of food was eaten, the hunt was on. Carter and Kelly shoved each other on their way across the beach, searching for the first treasure. Joe took Ox’s hand and pulled him along to search for the hidden items, even though Ox already knew where everything was. When Joe prodded him and tried to get him to reveal his secrets, Ox just smiled and shook his head. He remained strong when Joe kissed him to try to get the answers out of him. 

“Cheater,” Ox said as Joe’s hands roved over Ox’s body. 

“Nothing wrong with playing dirty,” Joe said cheekily. He turned away and looked down at the clue in his hands, his face scrunching up as he tried to figure it out. The things Ox had hidden around the beach were simple - things he’d found around the old house, little treasures and knickknacks he’d discovered when he was going through some of Maggie’s things a long time ago. It had taken him a long time to get up the courage to sort through his mother’s stuff, but eventually, with Joe there, he’d been able to clean up the old house. He hadn’t wanted to get rid of the valuables or the sentimental things, so he’d kept them all in a hall closet in the house until he figured out what to do with them. 

He thought this was a good idea. Maggie would’ve wanted the pack to have them, and there was something in her belongings for everyone in the pack, almost as if she’d owned them knowing one day they would fulfill this purpose. Gordo had used his magic to protect the items from the elements after Ox hid them on the beach, so nothing would be damaged or broken. 

Everyone had a clue specifically tailored to them that would lead them to their treasures. Ox looked around the beach, watching the pack search for the items. Joe wouldn’t find his until the very end; that was how he’d designed the hunt. 

Jessie and Ella found theirs first. A small rose-patterned cloth box that held inside two bracelets, one silver and one gold. Each bracelet had a flower charm dangling from it. When Ox found them among his mother’s things, he thought they’d be perfect for Jessie and Ella. The girls both gasped when they saw the jewelry, and Jessie’s eyes watered just slightly, but they were warm and soft when they looked at Ox. 

“Thank you so much, Ox,” she said. “They’re beautiful.” Ella smiled at Ox gratefully as she and Jessie slipped the bracelets on their wrists. 

Robbie was the next to find his. His gift was a book Maggie had liked to read, a well-worn paperback copy of a book of poems. 

“Ox, I can’t take this,” Robbie said, holding out the book with wide eyes. Ox smiled. 

“Yes you can,” he said. He didn’t put any Alpha in his tone, but Robbie listened anyway, nodding and tucking the book carefully against his chest. 

Carter and Kelly found theirs at the same time - Ox had hidden their gifts together. They each got a smooth worry stone made out of blue goldstone. Maggie bought them at a flea market she’d taken Ox to once. Ox remembered the lady at the vendor stall telling his mother that the stones were meant to be a pair and shouldn’t be separated. Ox thought his mother bought them just because they were pretty - she’d kept them with her jewelry in a box on her dresser. Sometimes, though, when Ox crept into Maggie’s room, he would catch her rubbing the stones, whispering words that might have been prayers. Ox didn’t know what she was praying for. Maybe for him. Maybe for his father. Maybe for herself. He didn’t know what god she was praying to, either. They’d never gone to church and Ox had never been raised on religion. But he let his mother keep her rituals. 

“These are so cool,” Kelly said as he fit his thumb into the indent of his worry stone. “Ox, are you sure we can have these?” He looked touched. 

“Yeah,” Ox said. “My mom would have wanted her things to go to you guys.” He was sure of that. 

The rest of the pack found their gifts quickly after that, while Joe became more and more dismayed when he couldn’t find his. Mark received a DVD of Maggie’s favorite movie. He smiled softly at the cover. Elizabeth got one of Maggie’s old dresses, which Ox had carefully put in a paper gift box before he hid it on the beach. To Gordo, Ox gave an old picture he’d found in Maggie’s things, faded and torn on the edges. It was of Gordo and Maggie when they must have been in high school. They had their arms around each other’s shoulders, big smiles on their faces. Gordo’s gift was the only one Ox had kept secret from him, and when Gordo found it, he only looked at it for a moment, running his fingers over it, before he cleared his throat and gently put it in his pocket. 

Tanner, Chris, and Rico each received a tiny diecast model of a car. Maggie used to give them to Ox as little gifts when he was a kid, but there were three she always kept on the shelf in her room. The boys all roped Ox into a group hug when they found their gifts, and then started running the cars over each other’s shoulders and arms, comparing them to see which one of theirs was better. 

“Ox,” Joe said, confusion in his tone. “Where’s mine? I thought you said you had a surprise for me.” He looked slightly hurt, and Ox hurried to remedy it, turning to face him. 

“I do,” he said. “Sorry. You’re supposed to find yours last. Read your clue again.” 

Joe looked down at the slip of paper in his hands, frowning slightly. The clue was meant to be complicated - it was supposed to lead him right to Ox. Ox was keeping Joe’s gift in his pocket. 

Finally, Ox reached up and smoothed away the crease between Joe’s eyebrows. When Joe looked at him, Ox kissed him, cupping his face between his hands. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. When Joe saw it, his eyes widened, and his hands tightened in Ox’s shirt. 

“Ox,” he said, but Ox said, “Shh.” He opened the box, revealing a ring. 

He’d found it in among his mother’s jewelry, tucked away in a secret pocket of her jewelry box. It was a gold band that twisted and twined together, forming the shape of a vine from a tree, with small gold leaves interspersed on it. For a while after he found it, Ox just stared at it, wondering why he’d never seen Maggie wear it. Then he’d picked it up and brought it to his room and hid it, and he’d kept it there, thinking about it in moments when he was watching Joe. He hadn’t taken it out again until he’d decided to do this scavenger hunt. He’d brought it to be resized to fit Joe’s finger, gotten it polished, and then kept it safe, waiting for the right moment to reveal it. 

“Ox,” Joe said again, softer this time. His eyes were wet and wide and full of love, and Ox smiled as he took the ring out and slipped it on Joe’s finger. It fit perfectly. 

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Ox said quietly, staring at the ring on Joe’s hand. It looked beautiful there. “If you don’t want it to. You can just have it, and it can just be a gift. But - ” He took a deep breath, trying to get the words out of his heart. “If you want it to mean something, we could - ”

“Yes,” Joe said before Ox could finish, wrapping his arms tight around him. Ox smiled, his heart taking flight like a bird in his chest. 

“Yeah?” he asked. Joe nodded and kissed him breathless. 

“ _ Yes _ ,” Joe repeated against his lips. 

“Okay, Joe,” Ox said, holding him tight. He felt the rest of the pack behind them, emanating  _ lovelovelove  _ and  _ happy so so happy for you  _ and  _ so so proud. Family  _ and  _ packpackpack.  _ “Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> i've been busy working on this but i have several other long fics in production for those of you who are wondering where i've gone! i'm just busy, i promise i'll have more stuff up this summer


End file.
